Anime: .hack//sign
Characters: Tsukasa, Aura

Tsukasa stands in his private grove, which has taken on the air of an entrapping barrier. He shares a connection with the girl floating over the bed and wants her to wake up, but wonders whether this can happen until he himself is able to "wake up" out of the virtual world that he is trapped in. But staying in the grove will accomplish nothing, so Tsukasa teleports out into the virtual World, where he will be forced to come to terms with the feelings and memories that will empower him when he returns to the "real world".

***

The Hanged Man is a mysterious card that has held various interpretations over the years. In its original form the card literally depicted a man being hung by the neck, and was usually interpreted as a symbol of ill fortune. Over time occultists reversed the man so that he was hanging by his foot instead of by the neck, and the card became a symbol of a time of peaceful inward retreat, when nothing much is happening in one's life.

But is it true to say that nothing is really happening when one retreats into one's self?

The card of the Hanged Man has also called forth comparisons to Odin hanging for nine days upon the Tree of Life, at the end of which he gained knowledge of the Runes. Although his body was not physically moving, it certainly sounds as though his inner self was questing for knowledge!

In the Otaku Tarot, the card of the Hanged Man reflects this inner movement. In the anime ".hack//sign", Tsukasa is almost two different people - the outer Tsukasa, who nominally lives in the "real" world but cannot do anything in it, and the inner Tsukasa who is trapped in the virtual MMORPG called "The World", and who is quite active and powerful there.

The World is a fantasy landscape, almost like a dream, in which many things are possible and players can indulge in whatever style of play they enjoy best. Actions taken in The World would seem to have little effect on things in the "real world". And yet, when Tsukasa goes on quests and interacts with other players in The World, the player learns lessons that can easily be applied to life in the "real world". The real trick comes in the learning of those lessons. It isn't easy, and for Tsukasa who is deliberately retreating from real life, neither is gaining the will to return to the "real world" to face it. However, the only way out of the situation is through it, and therefore before Tsukasa can leave the dreamscape of The World and return to the "real world" the player must first learn certain lessons.

Things must be Dreamed before they can become manifest.

Meanings at a glance: retreat inwards, looking inside to get in touch with hidden thoughts and feelings; little activity on the surface of the situation; gaining power by developing inner resources; being yourself

reversed: refusal to come to terms with the self; retreat from the self

********

Artist's comments:

This card was one of the hardest to find a subject to depict it. The usual interpretations of the card are centered around the idea of peace and of Nothing Much Happening, and there just aren't many anime made around those themes! But after a very great deal of thought I realized (from personal experience) that when one is on an inner seeking, the situation (subjectively, at least) is the furthest thing from tranquil and Nothing Happening as you can get! The landscape of the mind is an intensely rich, varied place peopled with as many wonders and monsters as any fantasy world. And from that realization it followed that Tsukasa of .hack//sign was the perfect subject for The Hanged Man.

Plus! I think I FINALLY figured out yet another artistic technical problem involving lines vs. colour that's been plaguing me for over EIGHT YEARS! o____O I swear to heaven I've asked so many artists and tried so many different things to solve it, I've felt like Thomas Edison trying to find the right kind of filiment for a lightbulb. o___O @__@ But...eureeka! Lightbulb